Turkmen Security Chief Ousted
An official announcement was read on Turkmen television yesterday that Lieut. Gen. Akmurad Redzhepov, the all-powerful head of the presidential guard, the country's security service, has been dismissed. This event marks a new phase in the country's history. With the ouster of that mainstay of the Niyazov regime, President Gurbanguly Berdymukhammedov is now free to pursue his own policies, whatever they may be.
There were rumors that Redzhepov had been arrested on Tuesday, other sources in Ashgabat deny that information. Turkmen dissident and journalist Ak Velsapar told Kommersant that “It was Redzhepov, as head of the presidential guard for 12 years, who controlled all the arrests in all state structures in Turkmenistan and all of Turkmenbashi's repressions were carried out by his hand. After his dismissal, a series of firings should follow of the people loyal to him, and his people at the present moment head practically all the enforcement agencies of Turkmenistan.” Bairam Shikhmuradov, one of the leaders of the Republican Party and son of a repressed former foreign minister, agreed, saying “Now a very big purge is coming.”
Under the constitutional hurriedly adopted in the country on December 26 of last year, the state security council, which Redzhepov was chairman of, had the right to dismiss the president at any time. Redzhepov's dismissal took place two days after Berdymukhammedov returned from a summit meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Kazakh President Noursultan Nazarbaev. “It can be assumed that the Turkmen president discussed the upcoming personnel change with his colleagues and received their support,” Shikhmuradov commented.
Kommersant sources say that the president needed a strong ally to remove such a powerful figure. That ally could only be Defense Minister Agageldy Mammetgeldyev, who not only was independent of Redzhepov, but was angered that he chose elevate Berdymukhammedov, the former minister of health, to the presidency instead of him.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of May 17, 2007
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